Art Theft and the Case of the Stolen Turners

by Sandy Nairne

In 1994 two important paintings by J.M.W. Turner—then valued at twenty-four million pounds—were stolen from a German public gallery while on loan from Tate Britain. In this vivid, personal account, Sandy Nairne who was then Director of Programmes at the Tate and became centrally involved in the pursuit of the paintings and the negotiations for their return, retells this complex, 8-year, cloak-and-dagger story, which finally concluded in 2002 with the pictures returning to public display at the Tate.

 

In addition to this thrilling narrative, Nairne unravels stories of other high-value art thefts, puzzling what motivates a thief to steal a well-known work of art that cannot be sold, even on the black market. Nairne also examines the role of art theft within the larger underworld of international looting and illicit deals among art and antique collectors. The art heist, of course, is a popular theme of crime novels and films, and Nairne considers these depictions as well, investigating the imaginative construction of the art thief, the specialist detective, and the mysterious collector.

 

Art Theft and the Case of the Stolen Turners is a compelling, real-life detective story that will keep both art and mystery lovers eagerly turning pages.


 

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Art History

280 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2011

Reviews

[Deb Omnivorous Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a really good, scholarly piece of work and it is split into a few sections rather than being a continuous narrative.

Part one is the story of how, in 1994 while on loan to a Frankfurt gallery, two very important works by Turner were stolen. Part one goes into the whole voyage of theft and recovery, explaining things like the insurance process, working with foreign police forces, tracking and ultimately the recovery. It is written in unassuming prose rather than any attempt at sensationalism, but I found it gripping.

Part two is a scholarly look at the ethics of stolen art recovery. This section introduces the concepts surrounding the 'values' of art, the history of art which has brought us to the point where it is valuable. This section also analyses the public myths and misconceptions about the people who steal art and their motivations. While this section was full of interesting information, I am not going to lie: At times it was very dry and very difficult reading. And that is despite the fact that I find the subject matter very interesting. I did love the parts which talked about other famous art heists - because I had read about a lot of them already, and Nairne's points about those cases were often new and interesting.

Nevertheless, I suspect this book is probably not really suited for 'general public' reading, it is probably more aimed at people doing art degrees or postgrad (or maybe criminology), or professionals in any of the many fields related to art, insurance or policing.

A few odd balls like myself may find it fascinating. For myself, I started reading it in a hotel in Vietnam, I had to leave it there, as it was not mine and I could not get it out of my mind so I bought it in order to finish it. Very glad I did, not a fast read by any means though.

[Christina Dongowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m finding it very difficult to rate this book, because it’s such a strange mix between personal memoir of Nairne’s part in the recapturing of the stolen Turners, and a thorough discussion of art theft and its intimate relation to the art market and museums, that is highly original, especially coming from the then head of the National Portrait Gallery. Both parts of the book I found very interesting, but they don’t work that well together. The memoir part would have profited from a more lively and personal telling of the story (but I admit it’s rather hard to get across tedium and slowness of bureaucratic and criminal mills churning in a lively entertaining manner). The theoretical part is quite thought provoking, and one learns a lot about the changing role especially of big museums like the Tate in the last fifty years, this could rally be a stand alone long essay. But this too would have profited from a more loosely style. It sometimes reads as a sort of policy paper for the ministry of culture and the arts.

[Danika · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting. Guess it’s time to go back to London to see the Turners!

[Deb Omnivorous Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found in a hotel in Hanoi. It was not for sale, but I really want to keep it in sight; I was enjoying it thoroughly and really want to finish it!

And I did finish it! Damn you GR - what did you do with my review???

[beyond_blue_reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

A strange read - not really sure the book knows what it wants to be, but brings up some juicy, thought-provoking issues about the art world.

The first part is a blow-by-blow account of the theft and recovery of two Turners stolen from Tate in 1994. It turned into a bit of a he said-he said slog (yes, it's always a he) - lots of men on shouty phonecalls; secret meetings in hotel lobbies; and frustrated, long-winded, legally complicated negotiations. It felt too much like big boys' games, and had a few bits of awful racial stereotyping about Nigerians and Serbians.

I found the second part more interesting. This is a wider discussion of museum ethics and responsibility; the 'value' of art and how it's created; and accounts of both real and fictional art heists and their role in the cultural imagination.

Overall it read like an extended case study, justifying the legality of the undercover recovery operation. I did find it strange how directly involved a few Tate staff were in the undercover proceedings (including the author) - surely there's a bit of a hero-complex thing going on here.

My biggest takeaway is that theft feels like an almost inevitable consequence of an art market that is a capitalist, commodity-driven theatre of wealth. The value of some artworks are inflated to obscene amounts of money, way beyond any intrinsic, social or cultural value. That feels just as grubby to me as the thefts themselves.

[Kylie Brooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was FASCINATING to read and I also acknowledge that only a tiny sliver of the general population would think so. The author was heavily involved in the recovery effort for the two stolen Turners from Tate, of which the first half of this book he tells the story in painstaking detail. If you do not find art crime and art theft and museum work interesting, this may drag.
The second half of the book is the author's thoughts and a thoughtful study of the ethics of art crime, its portrayal in popular media, and what the future might hold for museums as it relates to art crime and art restitution. Again, if those topics are not your jam, this may drag.
However, all of the above topics are completely, 100% my jam and I thought this book was AWESOMEEEEEEEE

[Hilary Scroggie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Left me wanting to know so much more.

[Jane Walker · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book arises out of the theft of two Turners while they were on loan from the Tate to a German museum. Nairne was involved in their recovery. The first part of the book details the meetings, the trips to Germany, the negotiations through a German lawyer, over nearly a decade. The Turners had been insured for £24 million. The negotiations to recover them raise the question of whether it is right to pay to get stolen art back. Nairne follows his story of the Turners with an attempt to justify it which I found unconvincing. He then has a chapter on value. How do you arrive at a price for works of art? Again, it is less than convincing, though it tries hard. There follows a chapter on art thefts of recent decades. At this point we are into the need to pad out the book, so we have a chapter on art theft in fiction.

There was a much better book to be got out of this.

[Hillsu]

Read in one sitting. Intriguing.

[Julian Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing insight into the murky underworld of art theft, organised crime and the colourful characters who doggedly police it. Well written and told at a good pace.

[Sherry Mackay · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting story but not well-written. I find the whole art theft thing fascinating, but it is not told brilliantly. It is an ok read if you are interested in this field.